Thank You, Milt. This is Very Definitely a "Community Blog."

I admit this blog was my idea.  It's registered to me, I chose the name and the layout, and I have provided most of the posts.  For the first couple of years, I provided all of the posts.

This blog is "open."  There is a comment opportunity at the end of each post, and anyone who wants to can comment.  I do not touch comments (I can't), and I have never deleted one (which I can do), nor would I ever.  Some people have said they attempted to leave comments, but blogpost would not accept them.  I have not been able to figure out why some people cannot get their comments to publish.  In many of these instances, readers ask me to publish their comments, or I ask permission to post for them.  They send me an e-mail of their comment, and I cut and paste it into the comment section, with their name signed to it.  On other occasions, readers have written to me to ask that I post a comment for them, and keep them anonymous.  I always do.

Furthermore, blogpost offers bloggers the opportunity to permit guest authors.  Because of the way blogpost is set up, I am treated as the owner or host of the blog, and any other post contributor is considered a "guest."  There are several of them already, I have never, ever refused anyone who wanted to be a guest author, and I have even offered guest authorship to some people who have declined.

It seems to me now almost an accident that the "Biscayne Park-- A Village Voice" blog was mine.  It should belong to all of us.  I don't need to be any more central to it than anyone else is.  It serves as a venue for information, discussion, debate, and almost always healthy disagreement.  That's what it's for.  It is pleasing to see how many viewers there are, and even moreso how many contributors (by comment or full post) there are.  There are maybe 10 guest authors now.  Any of them is a permanent guest author and can and will post whatever they want any time they want.  I personally would like it if there were 50, or 100, or 500 guest authors.  No one's contribution is unwelcome.  The only requirement to be a guest author is that you be public about who you are, and that you understand you will get feedback in the form of comments.  Anyone who posts anything on this blog takes a risk, and it's the same risk I take: if readers don't agree with you, they'll say so.  There's no request that commenters identify themselves by their real names, because I didn't want to inhibit comments, and in any case, I can't control who comments.  No one can be excluded, because they haven't given a proper name.  So we all enjoy their contributions, too.

I have referred to this blog as a "community blog," and Milton Hunter has picked up on the fact that I refer to it that way, and why I do.  He now calls it the "community blog," too.  Thanks, Milt.  And thanks for doing more than your part to nourish the blog, both through your own contributions and by referring people to follow and contribute on their own.  That's what it's all about.